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Opinion
Voters
deserve and expect open government, respect
January
3, 2007
Government
of the people, by the people, for the people. Those words, we
pray, are familiar to most South Carolinians, even if history
is not always taught as it should be. They were, of course,
the words that ended President Abraham Lincoln’s immortal
address at Gettysburg ..... you know, the speech that began
with “Fore score and seven years ago ..... “
They were
pertinent all those years ago, to be sure, and they’ve never
gotten old. They apply to every aspect of our government and
every elected official today. In fact, they are important to
every South Carolinian who deserves and expects a government
of, by and for the people. They may even be more meaningful
now than then.
Unfortunately, experience tells us that it
doesn’t always work that way.
TOO MANY OF OUR
ELECTED officials too often act contemptuously toward
constituents. Sometimes some even look upon constituents as
the enemy and treat them as such. If they don’t, they could
fool a lot of people.
There are times, the record shows,
when some elected “representatives” of the people even treat
fellow officials with the same kind of contempt ..... or
worse. There is no excuse for any member of any county or city
council, school board, legislature or any other government
agency or organization to ostracize his or her peers. They may
disagree on issues, certainly, and that’s how it should be.
However, all elected officials are in office to represent
those who elected them, and for that they should be accorded
the respect and equal standing as others elected. To act
contrarily is a slap in the face of all
voters.
EVERY VOTER IN GREENWOOD
knows, though, that is not always the case, and that needs to
change.
We have a republican form of government, of course,
which means those elected are obligated to use their best
judgment when handling public business. That doesn’t mean,
however, that the public and public input should be ignored,
nor should the deliberations and comments of elected officials
be disregarded because they differ with the majority. It
happens, though, and that, too, should change.
Another
Lincoln quote is noteworthy as well: “Politicians (are) a set
of men (and/or women) who have interests aside from the
interests of the people, and who, to say the most of them,
are, taken as a mass, at least one long step removed from
honest men .....”
Editorial expression in this feature represents
our own views.
Opinions are limited to this page.
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